A moment in Africa

Today is picture day (picture day is really when i have nothing interesting to talk about so i find pictures and post them).

Shoe shops...there are tons of these all over the place

Sierra Leone clothes shop

All of the poda podas in Sierra Leone had little sayings on them.  

bags and bags of African peppers...i think that many peppers could kill a man if he tried to eat them

Always interesting to watch people carry stuff on their head

This was taken right outside of the hospital that Jenny and i visited in the last couple days of our time in Sierra Leone.

Another shoe shop.  At one of these shops we found a whole bunch of Toms.  We wondered if they were just fake or if they were the pairs that Toms promises to send to a third world country when you buy a pair back home.  Interesting thought.

Ladies would carry these big huge buckets filled with things they were selling.  

GHANA! this is the Wild Gecko.  i believe i've mentioned it before.  it was a really neat shop with lots of recycled craft type things.  Very interesting but kind of expensive.

 As promised, pictures of the new years eve masquerade ball!

Jenny found this shirt in town and for some reason fell in love with it.  

Michael Jackson's thriller

dancing it up with Bronte

Somehow during the evening we convinced the Gurkah's to dance, so here i am dancing with Ganesh

my mask!!! Everything i wore was bought/made in Africa.  Including my shoes (which i have no pictures of).  

matt and nathan....lovely napkin masks boys :)

Lara Palmer and some of the other high schoolers planned the dance.  They set up a photo booth.  great job girls!

the Gurkah's

My group of peeps! We had such a good time!

Dancing with Jay! Yay! He knows i love swing so he played a couple of nice east coast songs so we could dance.  Thanks Jay!

In case anyone was wondering about the real Jay Swanson...this is him...

So i just remembered! earlier i said i had nothing to talk about...but today we got our new day workers!!!! wahoo!!!! Today they had orientation and tomorrow they start work.  Sometimes you don't realize how much you need someone till they are gone...and sometimes once they have left you realize you can live without them but you don't want to.  Our day workers provide us with laughs and encouragement.  Since i don't work in the hospital and have no connection to the patients on a daily basis, the day workers are our immediate connection to Togo.  We are here, in West Africa, to minister to West Africa.  And that includes our day workers.  I'm so excited to get to work with new people!!!!
We are starting to get set up here in Togo.  We have a lot of screenings coming up.  Prayers for safety at the screenings and for God to be present are much appreciated.
In Saturday i went into town with some friends.  We went to a lovely indoor craft market.  SSSOOO many beautiful things! The quality of artwork here is so much higher then in previous places we have seen.  Craft markets sell wood carvings, necklaces, hand died fabrics called batik, paintings, hand crafted jewelry etc.  So we went to the craft market and had a grand time

A guy making wood carvings

a leather working shop

the outside of one of the shops

Outside the market there was a 'workshop' area where they were making batik.  here is a guy stamping the white cloth with wax

The dye pots (with Pat)

Hanging the cloth out to dry after it's been dyed

 After the craft market we went to a fruit market.  CHECK OUT THE GORGEOUS PRODUCE!

things i haven't seen in a long time: fresh parsley, zucchini, purple cabbage, spinach  MMMMMMM

So far Togo is awe (wait for it) SOME!!! I'm so excited what God is going to do in the lives of the crew, the day workers and the patients while we are here.